Joshua_me
Today's Sustainable Fish
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2007
- Messages
- 1,877
http://peggy-w.hubpages.com/hub/Photos-of-the-beautiful-Cypress-Gardens-in-Florida
A certain podcast member's detailed ( and often - perhaps unintentionally - hilarious) review of Lego-land, got me to thinking about the old days before the demise of the original Cypress Gardens.
When we moved to Florida in 1979, (of course, I'm just barely old enough to remember this
) my Grandmother sold her home in New Jersey and came with us. She was getting "up there" in years at the time, and within a few months would be spending the rest of her years in a wheelchair.
But, moving on...
She had lived in FL previously, and one of things she was most excited about in moving to Sarasota was that we would be relatively close to Cypress Gardens.
She had, apparently, spent many a happy day in the park dating all the way back to the 1940's. And would spend many an hour talking about what a wonderful and beautiful place it was. So, needless to say, between 1979 and the late 1980's she, my Mother and I would make several trips to the park, usually spending the night at one of the nearby hotels.
It was, even from my nine year old perspective, an enchanting place to be. Of course, most of my time there was spent thinking, "we're SO close to Disney World, this is like torture..." but as the years have past, and the longing for "the mouse" has given way to water-colored memories of those days spent with my Grandmother in that park, I wouldn't trade those recollections for the world.
As you can see from the link posted above, the gardens were absolutely breathtaking - the Floridian climate allowing them to look pretty much like that almost year round. The water skiing shows were, for me, kind of boring quite frankly, but they hearkened back to a day when it took much less to entertain the general public. One can almost imagine a crowd from the 1950's, well dressed, and gasping and applauding at every little trick that was performed.
The "hills" that Kathy talked about were there at that time as well, and I had a devilishly good time pushing my Grandmother as fast as I could up and down them, while she'd be screaming for me to slow down, convinced that I'd send careening into the nearest lake.
The "carousel in the sky" or whatever they called it was there as well. It was opened in the early 80's if I recall correctly, and sponsored by Kodak. (They never being one to miss an opportunity for great venues for photographs.)
And yes, there were the "Southern Belles". (Again, refer to the link). As I recall they were all as beautiful as could be, many of them sporting Southern accents that sounded a little - well, let's just say "rehearsed". Gorgeous as the women were, I was more taken with their period apparel, but I suppose that's a subject for a different thread. (Heck, an entirerly different board, come to think of it...
)
In the end, I cherish the memories I have of the attraction. My Grammy is long gone, along with her generation that was perfectly content to spend the day looking at flowers and watching folks water-ski. I feel like I caught the tail end of a simpler time. "A time of innocence", and all of that.
It's easy to see why Disney, Sea World, etc. would eventually spell out the demise of the park, but perhaps in our endless quest for bigger and better "gardens" we've forgotten the magic that can be found in a single rose.
I know that my memories will always be cherished, along with the simplicity of that single bloom.
A certain podcast member's detailed ( and often - perhaps unintentionally - hilarious) review of Lego-land, got me to thinking about the old days before the demise of the original Cypress Gardens.
When we moved to Florida in 1979, (of course, I'm just barely old enough to remember this
) my Grandmother sold her home in New Jersey and came with us. She was getting "up there" in years at the time, and within a few months would be spending the rest of her years in a wheelchair.But, moving on...
She had lived in FL previously, and one of things she was most excited about in moving to Sarasota was that we would be relatively close to Cypress Gardens.
She had, apparently, spent many a happy day in the park dating all the way back to the 1940's. And would spend many an hour talking about what a wonderful and beautiful place it was. So, needless to say, between 1979 and the late 1980's she, my Mother and I would make several trips to the park, usually spending the night at one of the nearby hotels.
It was, even from my nine year old perspective, an enchanting place to be. Of course, most of my time there was spent thinking, "we're SO close to Disney World, this is like torture..." but as the years have past, and the longing for "the mouse" has given way to water-colored memories of those days spent with my Grandmother in that park, I wouldn't trade those recollections for the world.
As you can see from the link posted above, the gardens were absolutely breathtaking - the Floridian climate allowing them to look pretty much like that almost year round. The water skiing shows were, for me, kind of boring quite frankly, but they hearkened back to a day when it took much less to entertain the general public. One can almost imagine a crowd from the 1950's, well dressed, and gasping and applauding at every little trick that was performed.
The "hills" that Kathy talked about were there at that time as well, and I had a devilishly good time pushing my Grandmother as fast as I could up and down them, while she'd be screaming for me to slow down, convinced that I'd send careening into the nearest lake.
The "carousel in the sky" or whatever they called it was there as well. It was opened in the early 80's if I recall correctly, and sponsored by Kodak. (They never being one to miss an opportunity for great venues for photographs.)
And yes, there were the "Southern Belles". (Again, refer to the link). As I recall they were all as beautiful as could be, many of them sporting Southern accents that sounded a little - well, let's just say "rehearsed". Gorgeous as the women were, I was more taken with their period apparel, but I suppose that's a subject for a different thread. (Heck, an entirerly different board, come to think of it...
)In the end, I cherish the memories I have of the attraction. My Grammy is long gone, along with her generation that was perfectly content to spend the day looking at flowers and watching folks water-ski. I feel like I caught the tail end of a simpler time. "A time of innocence", and all of that.
It's easy to see why Disney, Sea World, etc. would eventually spell out the demise of the park, but perhaps in our endless quest for bigger and better "gardens" we've forgotten the magic that can be found in a single rose.
I know that my memories will always be cherished, along with the simplicity of that single bloom.
